A simple method was developed to prepare highly water-soluble nanocrystal powders of magnetic iron oxides with different oxidation degree from magnetite (Fe3O4) to maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) coated with gluconic acid (GLA). X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurements show that the products have a narrow size distribution, and the cores are inverse spinel iron oxides and completely crystallized. Vibrating sample magnetometry measurements reveal that all the samples exhibit superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. Fourier transform infrared (FOR) and Raman spectra were used to identify the products. It is shown that GLA molecules are immobilized on the nanoparticle surface by chemical bonding and the carboxyl is asymmetrically bound to the surface iron atom, and the vacancies in the gamma-Fe2O3 cores are disordered. Compared with FTIR, Raman spectrum analysis is a rapid, simple, and accurate method for identifying inverse spinel iron oxides. The chemical stability and the high solubility of the products are explained in terms of the proposed coordination modes of the surface iron atom with GLA. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.